Buffer for automatic couplings for railway and street cars.



L. BOIRAULT. BUFFER FOB. AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY AND STREETCABS.

APPLIOATIOH FILED MAR. 27, 1909.

9684917. Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

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LOUIS BOIRAULT, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

BUFFER FOR AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY AND STREET CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 27, 1909.

Patented Aug. 30, 1910. Serial No. 486,100.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LoUIs BOIRAULT, a citizen of the Republic of France,residing at 20 Rue Lafiitte, Paris, in the Republic of France, engineer,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buffers forAutomatic Couplings for Railway and Street Cars, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in automatic couplings of thecharacter shown in my previous United States Patent No. 689058, filed onMay 21st 1901. In the said couplings, each draw-head is provided withhorns adapted to engage in the openings adapted to receive the horns ofthe other head, with transversal bolts adapted to lock the said horns inthe openings, and with means whereby the said bolts are moved.

This invention relates to a device designed to be secured on a draw-headof this character and which allows of a car provided with the saiddraw-head being coupled with a car provided with a central bufferinstead of a similar draw-head.

The said device consists essentially of a piece the front part of whichis adapted to serve as a central buffer and the rear part of which isprovided with horns and cavities adapted to engage the openings and thehorns of the draw-head respectively.

The accompanying drawings show one embodiment of a draw-head and adevice constructed according to this invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the drawhead. Fig. 2 is a frontelevation of the said head. Figs. 3 and 4 are horizontal sectional viewsof the head on the lines 33 and H of Fig. 2. Figs. 5 and 6 arerespectively a side elevation and a back elevation of a buffer piececonstructed according to the invention. Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively aplan view and a vertical sectional view of the said piece.

The draw-head 1 comprises two horns 2 and openings 3 arranged in theform of a cross, the said horns extending forwardly and being providedwith transversal openings 4. WVithin the head are provided housings inwhich are slidable bolts 5. WVhen the horns of another draw-head similarto that shown in the drawings are engaged in the openings 3, the bolts 5can be passed through the transversal openings in the horns and thuslock the two draw-heads together. Each bolt has a slot 6 and the rearface of the head has slots 7 opposite each bolt; to the center of thesaid face is pivoted a lever 8 which is provided with two pins 9, andthe said pins pass through the slots 7 and are engaged in the slots 6,so that at each throw of the lever the bolts 5 are moved in oppositedirections. The means whereby the draw-head is connected to the draw-barand the means whereby the lever 8 is operated are of no importance inthat which concerns this invention and are not shown in the drawings forthat reason.

The piece to which this invention relates, consists, according to theembodiment shown in Figs. 5 to 8 inclusively, of a piece called a hornedbuffer, which carries at the back two horns9 designed to engage in theopenings 3 of the above described draw-head, and is also provided withtwo slots 10 designed to receive the horns 20f the said head, while thefront part of the said piece has a bulged or curved face 11, conforming,or approximately so; to the front face of the usual central buffers ofrailway and street cars.

The horns 9 have openings 12 through which are adapted to be passed thebolts 5 of the draw-head 1 when the horns are engaged in theopenings 3;by means of the said bolts, the draw-head and the horned buffer can thusbe firmly assembled together.

It will be understood that the shape of the rear face of the hornedbufier must be such as to fit the front face of the draw-head to enablethe said faces to come snugly t0- gether. Therefore, the said shape maybe varied.

In the draw-plate, according to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 4inclusively, the front face of the plate comprises two inclined planes13, the directions of which cross each other and each of which startsfrom the base of the one horn 2 at the inner vertical side of the latterand leads to the inner vertical edge of the opening 3 located at thesame level. The said inclined planes 13 cooperate with other inclinedplanes 14 to guide the horns of the draw-heads toward the openings 3when the two couplings are being brought together, the inclined faces 14being constituted by oblique wings integral with the draw-head 1. Tocorrespond with this form of the draw-head, the rear face of the hornedbuffer also comprises two inclined planes 15, the directions of whichcross each other and each of which starts from the base of the one horn9 at the inner vertical side of the latter and leads to the innervertical edge of the opening 10 located at the same level.

In order to allow of the horned buffer being coupled with cars providedwith the system of couplings having a vertical pin passing through aneyelet in the end of the drawbar, a recess 16 is provided at the centerof the front face of the buffer to receive the end of such a draw-bar,and a vertical hole 17 is provided in the said buffer to receive the pinwhich serves to lock the'bar, neither the bar nor the pin being shown inthe drawings.

Claims.

1. A buffer for automatic couplings having forwardly projecting hornsand openings arranged crosswise with respect to said horns, andtransversal bolts, consisting of a piece, the front face of which isbulged and of which the rear face is provided With horns and with slotsarranged in the form of a cross, the said horns and the said slots beingadapted to engage respectively the openings and the horns of anautomatic coupling of the character described, and the horns of thebuffer having transversal openings adapted to be engaged by the bolts ofthe said automatic coupling.

2, A buffer for automatic couplings having horns and openings arrangedin the form of a cross, consisting of a piece the front part of which isbulged and the rear part of which is provided with horns and with slotsarranged in the form of a cross, as well as two inclined planes, thedirections of which each crosses the other and each of which starts fromthe inner vertical side of the one horn and leads to the inner verticaledge of the slot located at the same level.

3. A buffer for automatic couplings having horns and openings arrangedin the form of across, consisting of a piece, the front part of which isbulged and is provided at the center of its front face with a recessadapted to receive a head of a drawbar, the said front part beingpierced by a vertical hole adapted to receive a locking pin, and therear part of the buffer having horns and openings arranged in the formof a cross.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

LOUIS BOIRAULT. \Vitnesses H. C. Coxn, MAURICE Roux.

